Night

"Remember, don't open for anyone to knock on the door." Sara was ready in her nurse's uniform, she had spent all the time telling me the things not to do. I was sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching a program on television. It was night.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'll be asleep in a little while." I am tired for today.

"It's okay. Anyway, I'll call you in an hour. I also left you the hospital phone number on the kitchen table for anything."

"Sara, I'll be fine. Go easy" I smiled to reassure her. She smiled back at me.

"It's okay. I'm leaving"She left the house, leaving. I was grateful that Sara cared for me but sometimes I felt that she had a responsibility that did not belong to her. She had been my mother all this time: going to school meetings, participating in my promotions etc.

I came out of my thoughts the moment the TV changed channels by itself. I frowned, took control, and switched it back to where it was. But this one was switched back to another channel.

How weird.

Maybe the TV was already bad.

I stood up and turned it off. In itself there was nothing interesting on television. I took my cell phone and checked my messages or calls. I had nothing. None. I thought maybe my friends would deign to call me, but apparently they didn't need to.

Outside, in the street, there was movement. I went to the large window that looked out onto the street and pulled the curtains back a little. There was a group of guys on the other side of the road, they were smoking and talking about something. Maybe they go to the high school that I will go to.

"Samuel!" Shouts someone from the neighboring house. She is one of the triplets. She was dressed in a pajama nightgown and is dragging a teddy bear across the lawn— Mommy wants you to come in! Remember that you cannot be outside after sunset! —The girl may have looked about 9 years old, or I don't know. I was wondering what she meant by being outside after sunset. Where had I heard that already? Sure! In the same song:

1, 2, 3 don't go out after sunset

1, 2, 3 or the wolf will eat you.

What a strange song. I assumed they were taught to children so that they would not go out at night. It was understandable. But also a lie.

"Ruth get in the house!" The boy who seemed to be called Samual was tall, yellow-haired, and medium thin. He had a cigarette in his hand and a cell phone in the other. "You should be asleep," he tells his little sister.

"Samuel! It is dangerous to be outside!"

"It's not a full moon, Ruth!" Another boy answers. "We'll be fine!"

"Ruth, come here!" Now it seemed like Ruth's mother was calling her. The girl turned and ran home.

How strange everyone is here, I thought.

I closed the curtains and headed for my room. The lights in the house are off, it is cold and there is a strange silence in the environment. This town was silent so to speak. It was like a half ghost. When I entered my room I went to my desk and sat down. I turned on the laptop and looked for the eraser I had had from a few weeks ago.

In front of me was the forest and the lake. Although there was no moon, the light of the stars shone. Now what I had written so far no longer seemed very coherent to me. Apparently I had some kind of blockage. I took a deep breath and concentrated.

My sight went to the forest, to the path that leads to the lake. Everything was quiet, nothing was visible, but suddenly I noticed how an animal ran by the dirt road.

"What was that?" I asked myself. It had been an animal but I couldn't make out what. God, it was huge. That scared me a bit. I stood up and moved closer to the window, watching for movement near the house. I saw it! He ran by. But the trees prevented me from seeing it. I could only see the silhouette passing quickly from one side to the other. What kind of animal is it? A dog perhaps? A wolf? There must be wolves in this place. I looked around for that animal, but I panicked the moment I looked at it near my house, near the back door. But the thing that filled me with fear the most was that it was huge. Enormous. Big. The animal looked up, seeing me.

I stopped breathing for a moment when he did that. It was a wolf. A big one. The black wolf howled as much as he could. I heard screaming downstairs so I left my room and ran down the stairs. I opened the front door and stepped onto the porch.

"Shit, Samuel, they're here!" The group of boys on the other side had gone on alert. What are they talking about, the wolf?

"Hey!" I yelled at them, because the truth was that this sounded like a movie to me. They saw me.

"Who are you?"Samuel questioned.

"I moved today, what are they running from and why is there a huge wolf behind my house?" I walked down the small front steps.

"Is it in the back?" Samuel and his group panicked. "You should go into your house and lock yourself up," is what he tells me.

"Let's go, Samuel!" —The group of friends beckons Samuel to leave, but since Samuel still doesn't react, they run down the road in search of their homes. But Samuel would be my neighbor.

"Please come in." Samuel crosses and walks toward his house.

"But what is the matter?" I wanted to know. "Could you explain to me why they are so afraid?" I advanced a bit.

"Oh my God!" He exclaimed, looking behind me, "come in!" —Samuel runs and goes home.

God, why do I feel there is something behind me? My heart was beating faster, I didn't even want to turn around. I heard footsteps so I confirmed that behind me was that wolf that I had seen more before. He's a defenseless wolf so he can't hurt me. I had been studying common wolves and knew that if he didn't make a compromising move it would be fine.

I heard a growl behind me, very close to me, so that made me jump in the same place. Okay, I need to turn. I steeled myself and turned slowly, very slowly, towards that thing. I groaned when I realized that it was not a simple common wolf, this wolf was my size and impressive.

"Oh no," I felt myself start to hyperventilate, felt myself start to panic. "My God," I whispered. The wolf was looking me straight in the eye, its muzzle was ready to attack. His eyes were two black holes, his fur was black and shiny. A wolf. It is a wolf. Is this a wolf? It looks like it was a huge bear. It is big and intimidating.

The wolf growls so I freaked out again. What I do? I run? I stay here? What? I have no chance of getting out. I reached for my necklace and pulled it out, squeezing it a little. Unless this symbol gave me luck. My necklace was of the Triskelion symbol, I had it since I was a baby. I think this was what gave me the courage. The courage to stand here in front of a huge wolf and not run away or pass out.

The wolf looks at my necklace, that makes him lose his posture a bit. Now he seems indecisive, he does not know what to do. Look both ways and then at me. The wolf gives me one last look and one last growl, then turns and runs into the woods. I stood there, stunned, not knowing what had happened. It all felt so unreal as if it had been the product of a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. Minutes later I reacted and remembered that there were wolves loose there, I ran towards my house and locked myself away.

I had almost died and for some strange reason I felt that my Triskelion necklace had saved me.